Surprise ride to Paris
Track cyclist izzah joins azizul and shah Firdaus in Olympics
PETALING JAYA: Cyclist Nurul Izzah Izzati Mohd Asri is set to gatecrash the Paris Olympic Games party following a breakthrough outing in the final round of the Track Nations Cup in Milton, Canada.
The 20-year-old put up a gutsy show to reach the semi-finals after winning her first round repechage in the women’s keirin event on Sunday.
Izzah came in second in her first round heat earlier but bounced back strongly to win the repechage.
Twelve cyclists (six winners from the first round and another six from the repechage) advanced to the semi-finals.
She did not make the top six final but rode superbly to finish second behind reigning Olympic sprint champion Kelsey Mitchell of Canada in the 7-12th placing playoffs.
Izzah finished in eighth position overall, which is her best performance in keirin on the world stage, and that assured her a ticket for the Olympics. She will be joining Azizulhasni Awang and Mohd Shah Firdaus Sahrom as the three Malaysian representatives for track cycling in Paris.
The Sungai Petani-born Izzah will be only the second Malaysian female track cyclist to qualify for Olympics since Fatehah Mustapa competed in the individual sprint in the 2016 edition in Rio de Janeiro.
The meet in Milton was the last Olympic qualifying event.
The top eight nations in the ranking will get two berths for the Olympics while seven other nations will receive a slot to complete a 30-rider field in the Olympics.
Going into Milton, Malaysia had occupied 14th spot in the Olympic rankings for keirin ahead of Spain, Hong Kong, Czech Republic and Poland.
Head coach John Beasley could not be prouder of Izzah, who has remarkably achieved Olympic qualification after only joining the national elite squad two years ago.
“Spain, Hong Kong, Czech Republic and Poland could have possibly overtaken us in Milton but I commend Izzah as she has managed to finish above all of them (by going past the first round).
“The confirmation list should be out later this week once they update the ranking points from Milton but I believe we’ve accomplished the mission to get one more spot for track cycling,” said Beasley.
“We have been training for the keirin and she raced fantastic. To finish eighth in this field was a testament to how far this young 20-year-old has come.
“It is also thanks to the Sime Darby Foundation (YSD) track races as that is how she has been learning the craft of racing, I can’t thank YSD enough for their incredible support as without the local racing league, Izzah would not have qualified.
“Now we need to add more depth in this local racing league and fortunately, we have plans laid out just to do that, and again it is thanks to YSD.”
Azizul and Shah Firdaus sat out the Milton meet but have already picked up enough ranking points to be assured of qualification on merit for Paris earlier.
Azizul will make a fifth straight Olympic appearance while it will be the second for Shah Firdaus.
Beasley was also happy to see Mohd Ridwan Sahrom posting a personal best of 10.023s to place 29th in the qualifying rounds for men’s individual sprint. Ridwan just missed out on making it to the knockout rounds with only 28 cyclists going through.
“Ridwan did a personal best in qualifying event and 13th overall in the keirin, that is the second best finish for Malaysia behind Azizul’s win in the first round in Adelaide.”